Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
2629

The season in which you're born can affect your personality.

Though the mechanism varies, birth season seems to influence quite a few aspects of a person's health and personality. For example, a 2010 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that babies born in the fall had nearly double the food allergy risk (9.5%) of babies born in the summer (5%); a 2008 study found that nearsightedness was highest in babies born in the summer. A recent study of 58,000 patients in England found that some disorders showed groupings based on birth months -- schizophrenics were more likely to be born in January, and less likely to be born in late summer; people with depression were more likely to be born in May, and less likely to be born in November.

Tuesday

Fact N°
2630

25% of users lie in their Facebook profiles.

A Consumer Reports investigation of 2,000 households found that 25% of users lied on their profiles for the sake of privacy -- 10% more than two years ago. The non-factual information on a person's profile, however, may be too essential to fabricate. A 2010 study asked 236 college-aged participants to fill out two personality inventories -- one accurately, and one that illustrated an idealized version of themselves. When researchers then rated their Facebook profiles for those same personality traits, they found that the profiles matched the true surveys, not the idealized ones.

A study at the Kellogg School of Management examined the effect of power on a person's moral standards by assigning study participants either high-power ("prime minister") or low-power ("civil servant") roles and then asking them to deliberate on matters like declaring taxes and traffic laws. In three out of three studies, high-power subjects were more likely to judge other people harshly for avoiding their taxes or speeding, while continuing to engage in those same behaviors themselves. Another study found high-power people more likely to judge others for over-reporting travel expenses, but in the same study, the high-power subjects were more likely to profit by cheating on a dice game.

Thursday

Fact N°
2632

A man's height is much more important to women than men.

Women care more than men do about which person in the relationship is taller, according to a study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. The study polled 382 undergrads, and found that though both genders prefer for the woman to be shorter than the man, women feel much more strongly about it. Twenty-three percent of men were up for a relationship in which the guy was the shorter party, but only 4% of women could say the same. Furthermore, 89% of women responded that the shortest person they'd date would still have to be taller than they were.

Friday

Fact N°
2633

Up to 96% of restaurant entrees approach or exceed nutritional limits for an entire day.

An 18-month Rand Corporation study examined the content of over 30,000 menu items from hundreds of restaurant chains across the country, and found that only a pitiful 3% of menu entrees were within the USDA limits for sodium, fat and saturated fat. Family-style restaurants were worse offenders than fast-food restaurants (to the tune of 271 more calories and 16 more grams of fat per entree). One of the few pieces of good news: restaurants actually willing to publish their own nutritional information on their websites were largely healthier than their counterparts (those whose nutritional information is only available upon request).

Saturday

Fact N°
2634

People innately believe that the self is located near the eyes.

A Yale study showed adults and toddlers pictures of cartoon characters interacting with a small point of interest (a snowflake or a fly) that appeared near a different body part in each picture. Participants were asked to identify in which picture the object was closest to the character. Both the toddlers and the adults thought the object was closest when it was positioned near the character's eyes, even though it was, in fact, always the same distance away. This result persisted even when the image was of a clearly alien character with eyes on its stomach, implying that people of all ages see the eyes -- not necessarily the head or brain -- as the place where the self is located.

Sunday

Fact N°
2635

Organic food makes people more judgmental.

A study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science divided 60 participants into three groups. One was shown images of typical comfort foods, one was shown clearly labeled organic food and the third was shown generic, neutral foods with no moral associations (like oatmeal and rice). All the participants were then asked to pass judgment on a series of hypothetical situations. The organic food group was more judgmental overall. When asked to volunteer time to help a stranger, the organic group volunteered 13 minutes of their time, compared to 19 by the control group and 24 by the comfort food group.